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| Sacred sites Some early symbol stones were placed near earlier sacred sites such as stone circles, and some prehistoric standing stones were subsequently incised with Pictish symbols. This may indicate a continuing reverence for such places. The same desire to connect with ancestral beliefs is suggested by the probable location of the palace at Forteviot, beside some prehistoric ritual monuments. Measured drawing of the Clach Biorach symbol stone, Edderton |
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Adomnán’s biography of Columba reports that the pagan Picts believed in powers associated with deep water. In this they would be no different from peoples throughout Britain in the first millennium AD, when many pagan holy springs were blessed and adopted by the new Christianity. Wells and springs were associated with healing, and Pictish burial grounds were often sited next to them. The rock-cut well at Burghead Pictish Fort. |
Rituals and sacrifice
 Carved footprint at Dunadd. |
The Picts used ritual in regular ceremonies such as the inauguration of kings. At Dunadd, a royal centre in neighbouring Dál Riata, there is a ceremonial footprint carved in the rock. Standing in it was probably part of a coronation ritual. Some Pictish carved stones depict unusual axe-wielding figures which have been interpreted as druidic or priestly, although there there is little certain record of such functions. Drawing of an axe-wielding figure carved on a Pictish stone from Barflat |
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Human sacrifice
There is evidence of ritual beheading, possibly of the vanquished in battle. Sueno’s Stone carries two images of multiple beheadings, one of them under a canopy or perhaps a cave. Beheaded skeletons were discovered in nearby Sculptor’s Cave.
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| Mass beheadings depicted on Sueno's Stone, Forres. |
The drowning cauldron depicted on the Glamis Manse stone, Angus. |
The Pictish king Onuist son of Uurguist drowned the vanquished Talorgen, King of Atholl, in 739, and the drowning of two unfortunate victims in a vast cauldron is depicted on a stone found at Glamis Manse.
Burial
 Meigle recumbent slab |
Judging from existing archaeological evidence, only a few selected Picts, male and/or female, were given a burial. Sometimes they are in small groups in cemeteries, others seem to be sited alone, Usually, each body was placed in a pit and then covered with a small mound of earth or stones. These were often dug from a circular or square ditch that surrounded the grave. |
| New burial practices began to be introduced around the time Christianity was being accepted, though we cannot be sure that they were exclusively Christian. In ‘long-cist’ burials, the body was laid out in a grave lined with stone slabs. Later examples of this type of burial are definitely Christian, with men, women and children laid to rest in cemeteries. These were arranged in rows: at Hallow Hill on the outskirts of St Andrews, a cemetery of 150 such burials has been found. Elsewhere, a few burials were marked with Pictish 'gravestones' or, even more rarely, they were covered with an elaborate recumbent grave-slab (the museum at Meigle has a good collection). Symbol stone found at Dunrobin |
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Christian conversion
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| The cross and other Christian motifs on a carved stone at Meigle, Angus. |
A cross-slab at Aberlemno, Angus. |
A cross-slab at Fowlis Wester, Angus. |
A cross-slab at Dunfallandy, Pitlochry. |
Columba is traditionally credited with converting the Pictish nation to Christianity. In 563 he established the monastery on Iona in Dál Riata, travelling only two years later to the Inverness area to meet the new Pictish king Bridei son of Mailcon. There are conflicting views about Bridei’s reaction – Bede says he was converted on the spot, but Columba’s biographer Adomnán reports only that the monk was well received.
However, it is certainly possible that Bridei was already a Christian in the tradition established by St Ninian in the early 400s. From his base in Whithorn in SW Scotland, Ninian had made missionary contact with the southern tribes of Scotland. Most historians now think that Columba’s role in converting the Picts has been overstated, but it is certainly true that by 700 Pictland was predominantly Christian, in the tradition spread by Irish monks, predominantly but not exclusively from Iona.
By the late 600s, the Angles of Northumbria were certainly influencing the practice of Christianity among the Picts. Monasteries established at Jarrow and Wearmouth were following a more Roman form of Christianity. In around 710, King Nechtain chose to follow that form. A few years later, he expelled the Columban priests from Pictland.
Christianity and the Picts
Christianity must have revolutionised Pictish society. It certainly inspired the greatest flowering in their creativity – the production of Christian sculpted stones. Some of these (perhaps the earliest) are very plain, marked only with a simple cross. But some are masterpieces – large, bold statements filled with designs of extraordinary delicacy and intricacy. Although Pictish symbols continued to appear on many of them, the dominance of crosses and other Christian motifs makes it clear that their Christian significance was pre-eminent. Dupplin Cross inside St Serf's Church, Dunning. |
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But Christianity was not just an influence on the spiritual and artistic life of the Picts. The church was also a powerful political force. Its blessing could confer legitimacy on kings; and in return kings granted land for religious centres. No religious foundation could exist without royal or aristocratic patronage. |
| Part of the St Andrews Sarcophagus, displayed in St Andrews Cathedral Museum. Embracing Christianity allowed the Picts access to the rest of the Christian world and it is clear that they exchanged influences. The recent discovery of vellum production at the monastic settlement in Portmahomack makes it clear that Christian Picts were producing manuscripts, probably highly colourful and ornately decorated. About ten Pictish stones carry inscriptions in Latin, the universal language of the church, and therefore of written knowledge. An inscription found on a stone at Portmahomack |
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